Viscosities and Sintering Rates of Composite Packings of Spheres

The effective sintering rates and viscosities of three‐dimensional composite packings have been studied using a discrete numerical model. The packings consist of random mixtures of hard and soft spheres of the same size. With increasing substitution of hard particles for soft particles in the packing, the viscosity increases and the sintering rate decreases. This is particularly abrupt at well‐defined rigidity thresholds where there is a transition from softlike to hardlike behavior. The site fraction of hard particles at which the transition occurs depends on the nature of the interaction between hard particles. When the contact between hard particles resists all six relative degrees of freedom (relative velocities and spins), the bonded case, the rigidity threshold coincides with the percolation threshold (site fraction ∼0.32). When the contact between hard particles resists only interpenetration, the sliding case, the threshold occurs at a site fraction of hard particles very close to unity. Results for the variation of effective properties with site fraction of hard particles are presented for these and other cases. These results can also be applied to the study of elastic percolating networks.